by Tina Lee
Diana looked at me while wiping the blood from her hand with a cloth, then she threw the cloth on the floor for the maid to take it up.
I coughed to buy time. “I’m already looking into that. The North shall have a Queen in ninety days. “
“Good. Good.” The men said.
I looked at all the tired faces and decided to end the meeting. They took their time walking out the doors while still chatting about the new mystery queen.
Diana stayed behind. She wore a thick white fur coat with streaks of brown through the middle. The brown matched her brown gemstone earrings that hung from her ears.
“Like my coat? I killed all the foxes myself,” she boasted.
“Why don’t you say what you want to say?”
She made a deep exhale. “You’re going against what it means to be a Lukas.”
I turned and gave her my full attention. “Please, choose your next words wisely.”
“I’ve seen you two, Leo. You and that human.” She stood and pour herself a new glass of wine. “The way you look at her, it almost made me teary. Then you kissed her, and it was like a love story being played out right before my eyes. A human and shifter, against the odds.”
“What I choose to do shouldn’t concern you.”
“It’s a love story that the North doesn’t need. As long as you carry the Lukas name, it does concern me. The King of the North wants our queen to be a human. A human ruling over me?” She spat on the floor. “Do you actually believe the North will accept a human as their queen?”
I had thought about it. What Diana had said wasn’t a revelation of any sort. It was a thought I had in my head many times. It was time for a change. How could I convince the people that a human wasn’t any lesser than us? They would laugh in my face—or rather behind my back.”
“A Lukas cannot mate with a human. If you continue on the path you’re on, the Lukas bloodline will be a joke. We’re suppose to send fear into all who hears our name, not laughter.”
“What do you know? You’re just a branch off the Lukas bloodline.”
That hit her more than I anticipated. She screamed and threw her glass into the wall like the spoiled brat she was. “I’m just as much of a Lukas as you are!” she screamed at me.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
She held a finger to my face, and for a moment, I thought of chopping it off. “I won’t sit back and watch you tarnish our name. I will do what I must! You are no true Lukas.”
“Yet, I sit here, with the crown on my head.”
“For now,” she said with a menacing grin.
“Know this. Treason is punishable by death, and I won’t think twice to cut your head off.”
She screamed and threw all the glasses from the table into the wall, then she stormed out of the room. The maids peeked their heads out after she left. They feared being hit in the face with a glass.
I didn’t take her words lightly. I sent two guards to follow her every move. She was now a threat as long as she was in my kingdom. Dante would have carried her into the woods and end her, that way, she could cause no trouble. And again, I couldn’t. I chose to do it my way—which I hadn’t figure out as yet. There had to be another way other than killing her.
I knew the maids would be happy if I killed her. She was nuisance to all the workers here. She was picky, feisty, condescending and had no manners. I knelt and helped them clean the floor.
“Your Grace, let us do the cleaning. No need to dirty your hands.”
“I don’t mind,” I said, then gave a quick smile. I thought about Elizabeth in the spaces between thoughts. I’d think of my responsibilities, then I’d think of words she had said, replaying in my mind, then I’d think of the war in the distance, then I’d think her delicate smile and her faint dimples.
I became lost between the spaces, unaware of time and my surroundings. I was with her, in her room, cuddling under the blanket of cold air. She positioned, then reposition, until she fit right under my arms.
“Your Grace?” one of the maids said.
“Yes?” I was back to the my least favorite reality, the reality where Elizabeth had left the North with my brother.
“You have a guest.”
“Yes, send him in.” Kronus was right on time.
He looked at the wine dripping down the walls then looked at me. “What happened here?”
“A child was set loose.”
“Ah, children. A pain in the ass.”
I laughed. “They require certain tolerance.”
“Tolerance I don’t have.” Kronus chuckled.
We took our conversation to balcony. Kronus had to return to the West and break the bad news. It was important to me that he made everything believable. We needed the people of the West unite against the East.
“Are you nervous?” I asked.
“No. I was going to be King sooner or later. It just so happened to sooner. I was prepared for this moment.”
“Are you ready for everything that is coming?”
Kronus smiled. “I know of my fate, Leo.”
Kronus was easy to have to conversation with. He understood the concept of perception, and respected that not everyone will see eye to eye. This made it a pleasure to have him as a ally.
“You will have to get your army together quickly,” I said.
“How are you sure the East won’t attack you first?”
I held out my palm and caught the falling snow. “The East isn’t stupid enough to attack us in winter. They will wait until the middle of spring, when the snow is gone, and we won’t have the advantage of camouflage.” This time, we would take the war to the East.
“That gives you about three months to prepare.”
“And three months is enough.” I turned to Kronus. “My plans depends on you.” Kronus was important to my plans. I needed his army and his connections.
“I understand.”
I was sending Kronus to the South, past the shores, across the seas to our neighboring country. I’ve never seen one but Kronus told me of dragon shifters. If this was true, then their strength would guarantee our victory. This, however, would take great convincing. I needed Kronus to convince the dragon shifters that fighting for us was in their best interest. Whatever that interest may be.
The East had the numbers because they had the wealth, however, their men lack any real loyalty. Their heart was not in this war. That was our advantage.
“When do you plan on leaving for the South? I have already made arrangement for the ships. They will be waiting on you,” I said.
“You already made arrangements?”
“Elizabeth has left for the South with a letter telling Captain Qin Shi to prepare a ship for the King of the West.”
“Then all is set. Everything is in motion. I hope at the end of it all, we will drink a glass together for a job well done.”
“You sure the dragon shifters will fight for us?” I asked.
“Not much I can tell you at this point.” He looked at me and shook his head. “They don’t even speak our language. I’ll try my best.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Kronus to get the job done. I just wanted more than ‘I’ll try my best.’ “What kind of people are they?”
“Their culture is similar to ours. They have laws. They have Gods. They are proud people. On their land, there is only one kingdom. Half of their population is human, and they live side by side as equals.”
I was suddenly nervous about getting through to the dragon shifters. “Have you thought of what you plan to say to them?”
“I have. I will tell them what the Gods have shown me.”
I wondered if I was starting to lose Kronus. Maybe it was some after effects of the medicine they were giving him. In a strategic plan, where i need every move to be logical, the last thing I wanted to hear from the man who had an instrumental role, was that the Gods spoke to him. I decided to humor him. “Oh? What have the Gods shown you, Kronus?”
He k
new I was skeptic, and it amused him, like when you tell a child the earth is floating in space, and the child cannot fathom something so strange to be true, but it is. “I saw the man who will unite all the lands.”
As foolish as he sounded, I was still interesting in hearing more. “And who is that man?” I asked.
“You’re asking the wrong question, Leo. Who it is isn’t important. The question you should be asking is when. It will happen, that’s for sure. And when it does, there will be free open trade between countries.”
“So they are like us. I guess greed is present in everyone.”
“Not greed, Leo. Prosperity.”
I needed a drink. I tried not to doubt Kronus’s ability but I couldn’t help myself. I would go to meet the dragon shifters myself if I could.
I looked at the city that I was responsible for, and suddenly, the crippling fear that I might fail them came. I feared being what everyone already had in their mind, a weakling not worthy of being King, much less a Lukas. Men who wore this crown before me were great men, and sometimes I believed I wasn’t worthy of it. That it would better fit for Dante. This plan that I had would define what I would be remembered for. It was either the King who had conquered the East, or the King who had lost it all.
Kronus would leave in the morning, and I prayed to the Gods to protect and guide him. “Remember,” I told him, “we will drink a glass together when all this is over. It will be a glorious summer.”
“I look forward to it.”
Everything now depends on you. Don’t fail me, Kronus.
Chapter Twenty Six
Dante
The clouds rumbled, each one louder than the one before, like the sky was hungry for something. The sky was painted with luminous scars, flashing and striking. What a beautiful sight.
We could hear the rain in the distance, coming towards us, giving us little time to prepare.
“We must find shelter,” Elizabeth said the obvious.
If my memory served right, there was an old shed ahead where they stored lumber. We could stay there until the rain eased.
Elizabeth stopped and touched her forehead. She held out her hand and a water droplet smacked into her palm. “We have to move fast,” she said.
We started jogging through the woods, trying to outrun the rain. We could hear the rain beating on the leaves over our heads, getting heavier by the second, drumming fast and pouring through the little shelter the trees provided.
We were now fully running, and Elizabeth being the competitive person she was, turned it into a race. I wasn’t sure if she really believed she could outrun a shifter, but it was amusing nonetheless. The shed was in our sights, and it was bigger than I remember. We raced towards it, and I won, obviously.
Elizabeth punched me. “You should have let me win.”
She said it, but I knew she didn’t mean it. We rest our bags and sat two stumps made from lumber. The shack was empty. All that was left were lumber chippings and a huge saw.
We used the time to rehydrate and rest. Elizabeth made it clear that we had a strict schedule. We were on our way to buy a horse at a village that bordered the North and West. Our ancestors, along with the South, have never practiced riding on the backs of horses. We killed because we were hungry. We took the fox’s fur because we were cold. A man that rides a horse’s back is a lazy man, who refuse to walk himself.
She leaned on me and automatically my arms pulled her in closer. Things felt right when she was near me. So close that I could smell her wet hair, hear the tiny cracks in her voice, see how her eyelash curled and the way how she licked her lip, something so ordinary and quick that you would miss it at any other time, but up close, it was slower, and you see the series of movements taking place. The way how her tongue slides across her lips, then it retreats to where it came from, leaving her lips glossy and kissable.
I snapped myself out of whatever madness I was in. I was doomed, and I knew it. I loved her, and this so called ‘love’ was doing strange things to me. It was taking my thoughts into these pathetic places where I was admiring the movements of her lips. Something so stupid and insignificant was suddenly all I was thinking about. How did any man ever survive love? Love had jaws, and it chewed you and spat you out, leaving you mangled and unfixable. Forever broken.
I wish it was simple as stepping out of love. Just cut the cords and it would all go away. It wasn’t. Even when I tried to avoid her completely, I realized that it made me want to see her more. An addiction one may call it, no different from the drunken fools who spend all their coins on beer every night.
A part of me was ready to accept it all. To let the jaws of love do what they want with me. And if I die from it, then so be it. It was all madness.
I could smell the wetness between her legs. Such an intoxicating scent. All while she stare at the falling rain outside and wait for me to make the move. I waited to see how long she was willing to wait. She crossed her legs, some seconds later she crossed it the other way, unable to keep still. Her hand casually rest on my crotch, pretending for it to be unintentional. She licked her lips again, this time, she bit on her bottom lips a little. Her eyes glance at my crotch every few seconds, trying to see if my beast was rising.
Her panty was soaked with her juice, and her lovely scent was now so strong, to me at least. I decided not to torture her anymore. I buried my head between her thighs, pressing my face in her cunt, her scent now powerful beneath her garments.
“What are—”
I shushed her, pressing my finger on her lips, which she then took into her mouth and began sucking it. That was my affirmation to do the dirtiest things. She humbly gave her body for my doing. She, in her total submissiveness, wanted passion, of which only I could give. With every spank, choke and cock slammed into her, we became closer, a driving power of force, a combustion of some kind, like the sun.
She relaxed, with her legs on my shoulder, while my tongue danced with her clit, flicking and licking, gifting her with pure pleasure and spasms. She gasps many times as she was struck with lightning bolts, electrifying her body and soul, bringing her closer to climax in its purest form. And while I couldn’t possibly understand what she felt, I knew it had to be divine.
Her eyes rolled back, and her grip on my hair loosens. She had let go of herself and let the climax take over, riding the bliss, the energy of all things good. Her juice dripped from my beard, running down my neck to the valley between my pecks. I wasn’t done with her just yet. I slapped my cock against her clit, jerking her whole body, her eyes returned, and she, was in this reality again.
I slid in the wetness, and she moaned my name, as if she was using her last breath, and I had never heard my name sound so gentle.
I lifted her and braced her against the wall, pounding her, shaking the weak shed with her back slamming against the wall. Eye to eye. Lips to lips. My cock fucking her fiercely, and her begging sex raining juice. Orgasm after orgasm. Squirt after squirt.
With my cock, I reminded her who I was, and the power I possessed. The strongest man in all the lands. She moaned into my mouth and dug her nails into my back, leaving me with battle scars. There she was again, with her head flung back and eyes rolled over, riding the euphoria. I was her escape, so she could leave this world, if only for a moment. Where she escaped to? Eden, perhaps.
She returned to this world with a smile, and I smiled, because her smile made me happy. This was what love was all about. In my weakness, I found strength, because I found a purpose. Elizabeth was my reason for everything. The answer to any doubts. I was not weak for loving her. How could I be? When I would burn the world to the ground if she was in any harm. She was my light. Something I never thought I could ever have.
The rain beat the roof over our heads. Her eye lids closed then opened again seconds later, fighting the sleep just so she could look at me. “I love you, Elizabeth.”
“I love you too,” she whispered right before she fell asleep.
Chapter Twent
y Seven
Elizabeth
We had to make up for lost time. We spent the night in that old shed, and while I enjoyed every minute of it, we were hours behind schedule.
We bought a horse—well, I bought a horse, as Dante didn’t believe in riding one. Instead, he shifted into Midnight, to keep up with my horse. I had to take a brief lesson on horse riding, which didn’t do much for me, as I always felt like I was seconds away from falling off. I held the reins tight, trying to control the horse, but it was controlling me instead.
The sight of Midnight scared it, so I went ahead of him. After hours of riding, and my ass paining in many different places, I started to get the hang of riding a horse. I became friends with my horse. I gave him a name; Theo. Brown with multiple of white spots on his side, a white spot with shape of a leaf on one side of his face.
Hours and hours of riding. After a while my mind wandered, battling the depressing boredom of passing tree after tree, leaf after leaf, until i began to doubt the distance I had traveled, and if my mind were playing tricks.
The sex I had last night was a blur, but the feeling was still strong. I didn’t remember his face but I remembered his touch. The way how his beard brushed between my thighs and tickled me. His hot breath on my clit. I remembered leaving this world, if that made any sense. My bruised ass cheeks still hurt. I didn’t remember him spanking me, but I knew I must have liked it.
When I entered the South, the first thing I noticed was the the amount of Grey hairs on the head tops in the bustling scene. No trades, rather a community of people passing baskets, one hand to the next, passing down the line. Every person had specific role. No one frowned, or showed any sign of tire. All sharing the load, like ants working together to carry a cracker, with thoughts in sync, as one.
They hummed together and moved together. Dante and I stood and watched as old men and women completed work as any youth could.
Their faces were round and flat, with pale faces. They had dark eyes. Dull and boring, not exciting Dante's eyes. They had thick black hair, which the women grew until it reached their backs, while the men wore pony tails. The more we went into the village, we saw more men with bald heads. We were yet to see anyone our age, which struck us as strange, but we didn't bother to ask. Everyone was so reserved that I was afraid to even ask questions.